Back from Taiwan, and an announcement.

Hello I'm back! 

(scroll down for announcement!)

It was a wonderful 10 days in Taiwan, and everyday was pretty chilly much to our delight, hailing from forever-sunny Singapore. 

Which explains my outfit below on the first day, complete with orange socks. And that was just what I wore in the hotel room. When we headed out for shopping and meals I had to put on boots and a thick coat.

Taiwan is famous for their fruits, and almost every kind I tried was sweet and juicy. This was snapped at a 24 hour fruit stall near the first hotel I stayed in.

We also travelled up on this hilly village called 九份 in taiwan. There were many tea cafes which had beautiful views like these, where you could sip hot tea and just marvel at nature and architecture. 

Another famous feature of Taiwan is their 早餐店, breakfast cafes. I wish I had more time to visit them, definitely a must-do when I return!

 

I ordered this - it's a egg pancake filled with pork floss and vegetables, pretty delish!

That's enough for Taiwan photos for now, there'll be more to come!

♥ ♥ ♥

Announcement - Opening of Limited Commissions

 

Since returning home, I've been preparing for the next big thing in AiClay - opening up a limited commissions list. This has been on my to-do list for a long time, as it would free up some time for sculpting what I have in mind apart from fulfilling commissions. Hopefully the store will be stocked more regularly too, with new items.

This means that apart from those who have got a slot on the list, I would not be accepting other commissions. This applies to miniature food props, displays, accessories etc. 

But you can definitely still email me with suggestions on what to sculpt, you readers do have some rocking ideas which I'm always happy to hear. :)

 

For all those who are interested in nabbing a slot (and there are really very limited slots), do stay tuned when it hits 1 April here. Slots will be given by first come first served.

I'll be posting up more details then, in the meantime you can head to the Commissions FAQ tab above to find out more.

P.S Don't worry it's not a April Fool's joke haha.

♥ ♥ ♥

Ending off with a snapshot of Peggy's miniature bunny hat that I commissioned from her. 

Isn't that heart-nose the cutest thing ever!

all my bags are packed..

..I'm ready to go. 

I can't help it, this song goes through my head everytime I'm packing for a trip. This time, I'll be flying to Taiwan! If you guys know me, you'll know that I spend an embarrassing amount of time watching Taiwanese talkshows (they're really entertaining!). 

So I'll definitely keep my eyes peeled for any celebrities when I'm there!

For now, let me leave you with a few snapshots I took of a miniature cake I made. The customer specified 'duckky' on the little card, just in case you thought I had made a spelling mistake.

While sculpting it, I was thinking to myself this is the kind of cake I would like. Just a simple flower decoration, and the little crown of pearls at the bottom added a touch of elegance. And I was imagining it'll be a dense, rich chocolate cake. Yum.

Someone thinks she can get away with stealing a bite, your bunny disguise isn't helping you Mio! 

Also, just compare both my hand and hers near the cake, that should give you an idea of how tiny the doll (and cake) is!

As for the next photo, I was debating on whether I should even showcase this in my blog.

You know, I've never liked to sculpt animals/humans, though I sometimes accept commissions just for fun and to sculpt something different. But when the customer asked for a belly-dancer figurine on the cake, my face was like O.O and alarm bells were ringing loudly in my head.

Human figurines are not my proudest creations, and I've sworn it off a long time ago. But the customer insisted, even though I warned him it might be ugly haha.

In the end, I sucked it in and sculpted this teeniest belly-dancer. I wish I had taken a photo of it on my finger, but just imagine it on the photo above where I have the cake on my hand.

She's starting to look like a mermaid to me though, because I thought I was being smart by avoiding sculpting legs by dressing her in a skirt that reached the cake. Thankfully the customer did not express any discontentment (or revolt lol), and was in fact happy. Phew.
 

I've always wanted to sculpt little kewpie figurines for my miniature cakes though, maybe when I'm feeling adventurous again haha. 

This post is getting a little long eh, but nevermind, since I'll be gone for almost 2 weeks. Hang in there with me!

Here's a cookie pendant that I sculpted a while ago, hung on a keychain and handphone strap.

It's photographed on my pink wallet, my favourite buy from the bangkok trip a few months ago! The fabric is starting to peel a bit though, sigh.

 

 Ending this post with a sweet photo of my little ones. 

They remind me of chocolate and vanilla, since one is tanned and the other has a milky complexion.

♥ 

See you guys in 2 weeks, will be back with photos and travel experiences! 

I will also tend to all emails/convos/orders only when I'm back, on 30th March. Thank you!

Colourful Donuts.

It's a dreary Monday today, the grey skies threaten to pour rain but that hasn't happened and it's already evening.

So let me introduce a bit of colour today. ♥

I sketched these donuts while planning for the workshop a while back. Got really bored today and tried colouring them in using Photoshop. It's really amatuerish work and I can't paint any other decorations but sprinkles apparently.

But I still love the happy colours! ♥
Maybe I'll make some miniature versions following these colours.

======================================================================

I gave myself a day off today, and finished reading Lord of the Flies. And then I went on Youtube to search if there were any movies based on the book. Turns out there were not one, but TWO, one made in 1963 and one in 1990.

So I watched through BOTH of the films. It was a true agony sitting through the 1963 version, not only was it in black and white (maybe that's why I felt today was so dreary), the whole movie felt like a school play because of the almost-hilarious poor acting. The only saving grace was that it was really entirely based on the book, and the actors were almost reading the book word for word (not sure if that's a good thing).

The 1990 version had colour (yay!) and the cast acted more naturally, even though the film was rather loosely based on the book, and the plot was very different.

But after spending all that time, I don't even like the book that much to begin with. Haha.

A birthday party. { donuts workshop }

I don't know about your culture, but over here, we are big on 21st birthday parties.

But after that, birthdays pass in a blur and the lone candle replaces the rest as one tries to forget her age. And then, sometimes birthday songs are shushed. 

"please don't sing it, shhhhh. not here, we're in a restaurant sheesh!"

Personally, I still like birthdays celebrations and have no problems revealing my age. (I'm er.. -does mental calculations. 25?) But after the age of 21 where the whole year was just filled with frantic present-buying and themed parties of friends and classmates, it has been pretty dead on the birthday party front.

And so I was pretty excited to get a birthday invite last Sunday! 

Although I didn't know the birthday girl (I do now, hello Stacey!), and that she was 14 years younger than me, and that I was really there to conduct a workshop.

But still. yay! ♥

It got off to a rocky start though, more attendees turned up than the confirmed number of participants. There was no way I was going to disappoint anyone by turning them away (it was a birthday party!) and JY whisked me home to get more materials. (thank goodness JY drove!)

It didn't help that I lived on the other end of the island so it was still forty minutes to and fro. It was one of the most stressful car-rides I've sat in. Again and again, I was mentally checking off what I needed to grab from my house and kicking myself for not bringing more materials.

Important lesson learnt, always prepare more materials than needed.

-nods grimly.

A few of them pointed at the display of food miniatures I always brought along to my workshop and started asking. "Is this real? Can I eat it?"

I still got a kick from seeing their shocked expressions when I told them they were made of clay and weren't real food. And then I realised I had to spread the word around to not eat the donuts they were making afterwards.

 

While rehearsing for the workshop (yes I have to do that everytime!), I made a basket of donuts too. Call me girly, but pink and white can hardly go wrong.

But of course, I provided the participants with basic colours like red, blue, green so that they could mix their own colours for the decorations. Not everyone's a pink lover haha, just look at their colourful donuts in the photo collage below!

 

The birthday girl's mother prepared 3 prizes and told me I had to judge and pick the 3 loveliest baskets of donuts in the end. 

It was my first time judging anything hoho, and I dawdled for some time before I could pick the winning donuts. Some of them arranged little smiley faces, it was all so cute and creative.

Yup, as you can tell I stopped growing when I was 12. :(

I also made a donut pendant for Stacey so that she'll always remember her donut-filled 11th birthday party. Too bad I forgot to take photos of it, I took a chance on her not being a pink-hater and sprinkled pink and white icing balls on one side of a chocolate-frosted donut, and arranged the letters in her name on the other side.

Happy birthday Stacey! ♥